Railroad-tie.



L. T. THORN.

RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. '1. 1914.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 1.

L. T. THORN.

RAILROAD TIE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7, 1914.

1,133,761. Patented Mar.30,1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

V r M" H W "My I -f LAWRENCE aaftriaoan, or LYnnvILLii, TENNESSEE.

nearer.

' Application filed August 7, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE T. THoRN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynnville, in the county of GilesandState of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Ties;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in railroad ties and has for its principal object to provide a tie which will effectively hold. the rails in place and prevent them from sinking or creeping.

1 Another object of the invention is to provide a .device that will eliminate the usual tie plate and substitute in lieu thereof a plate extending throughout the entire length of the tie and oarrying'fastening means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and efiective means to "prevent the railroad rail fromsp'reading and thus endangering the trailic passing thereover.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forth in the following specification and in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a sideview in elevation of a tie constructed in accordance with this invention illustrating the'same asit would appear with the rails in place, Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a longitudinalsectional view through the center of Fig. 2 illustrating in detail the'rail securing means, Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail perspective view of one of the rail clamp locking elements, Fig. 5 is a side View in elevation of a modified form of rail securing plate, Fig. 6 is a top plan view thereof, Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view taken on line 77 of Fig. 1, Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail perspective view of one of the rail clamps, and Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail perspective view of the cooperating rail clamp used in connection with a modified form of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings by char- 7 acters of reference, the numeral 1 designates a wooden tie of the usual construction to which the tie plate 2 is secured. This tie plate is formed near each end with the dovetail groove 3 the inner end of which terminates in the enlarged recess 4.. Slidable in Specification of Letters Patent.

- RAILROAD-TIE.

Patented Mar. 30, 1915?.- Serial No. 855,675.. i

the dove-tail groove and arranged to be re- 1 moved through the recess 4 is the rail clamplng member designated generally by the numeral 5v which comprises the base portion 6 having the angularly extending wall 7 which is arranged to conform to the shape of the dove-tail groove and this basememher 6, is provided with the upwardly inclined railfiange engaging member 8 which is arranged to engage the upper side of the rail flange and hold the railroad rail in place. A similar rail clamp is arranged to coiipcrate with. the one previously described and this rail clamp is arranged to lit the inside ofthe rail and it will thus be seen that a securing the rails to the tie.

come within a short distance of the end of the dove-tail portion of the recess and the simple and'eflective means is provided for 3 The rail clamps are preferably ofsufiicient length to remaining portio'n is filled with the rail clamp securing element which will be more fully hereinafter. described.

The rail clamp securing element previously mentioned, is best illustrated in Fig. l and comprises the plate 9 having formed near one end the aperture 10. This plate is provided at its opposite end with the dovetail extension 11 and this extension is of sufficient length to fill the remaining space between the terminal of the dove-tailportion of said groove between the recess and the. rail clamp.

Inorder to hold the rail locking member in pla ce, there is provided a suitable bolt 12 which extends into .a threaded aperture formed in the bottom wall of the recess and it will thus be seen that when the bolt 12 is tightened the plate will be firmly held against accidental movement and thus lock the whole together.

In the modified form of the invention, the tie structure is essentially the same excepting that the body 2 is supported on a pair of spaced flanges and the rail locking plate is formed with a rail clamp at the end opposite to the dove-tail extension. This structure is best illustrated in Fig. 9 and it will be apparent that when the same is in place a rail may be supported centrally of the tie and will be rigidly held thereto, thereby providing means for supporting three rails on the tie.

It is to be understood that in order to provide for clamping rails of different characters, the filler members designated by the numeral 13 are provided and are arranged to be inserted between the outer rail clamp and the outer endwall of the slot 'in'which the device is used. Thereby upon removing or inserting the filler members it will be evi- V dent that rails of varying sizes may be firmly held in place on the tie, and accidental movement thereofwill be eliminated.

It will be apparent from the foregoing thatv in use the ties are laid inthe usual way and the outside rail clamp placed in position in the dove-tail groove. The rail is then slipped in placebeneath the flange engaging the tie clamp and the cooperatportion 8 of ing tie clamp is then placed'in the dove-tail 1 groove and slid into engagement with the upper rail. The rail clamp securing means is then placed in the recess 4: and the dove tail extensions thereon slipped intothe dove-tail groove and against the inner rail clamp and the device isthen pressed downwardly'so that the upper'face thereof alines with'the with. The bolt 12 is then put in position through the aperture 10 formed in the clamp locking means. i

It will be clearly seen that a simple "and eflicient method of securing the rails, to the tie is provided- V V that such changes in the combination-and v V Y arrangement of parts as may fall within the f While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred emb0di-' ment of this invention it is to be understood being'provided with a screw-threaded-aperture, rail clamps slidable in the dove-tail i copies a: this patent may be obtained for face of the tie and lies flush therethespirit and scope of Witnesses:

grooves, said rail clamps conforming to the shape thereofto prevent the same from being accidentally removed and a clamp locking plate removably held 111 the'rccess and ar-' ranged to abut the rail clamp toprevent the same from becoming accidentallyremoved.

2. .A railroad tie including a body, said r r a body being provided with a dove-tail groove I in its upper face, able in the d0ve-tail groove, the body also being provided with a recess in its upper faceysaid recess communicating with the dove-tall groove, the-rail clamps g a pair of rail clamps slidi of'sufli'cient' size to partially fill the dovel tail groove, a plate arranged to be inserted in the recess to fill the same andfa dove-tail extension on" the plate, 'said dove-tail extension being arranged to engage -the rail clamps to hold'the samefirmly in place.

'3. A railroad tie including a body beingprovi-ded with a dovetail groove in its upper surface, said the tie adjacent the groove and arranged'to communicate therewith; said recessjbein'g of the same width" as the width of the widest part of the groove,

a plate arranged to fit'the recess,-means to hold theplate in the recess to prevent the y grooveextendinglongitudinally of the tie, a recess formed in V rail clamps slidable -in the groove, said rail clamps being of'suf ficient length to nearly fill the entire groove, l

body, said same from becoming accidentally removed and a dove-tail extension on one end of the plate, said dove tail extension being ar ranged to engage the rail clampsand fill the space between the rail clamps in the end of the dove-tailfgroove to hold the rail clamps against movement; 7

in presence of'two witnesses. e 1 Y THORN JAS. A. Meem'o's, J. M. W nnrAMs.

five cents each, by addressing the foomniissioner of Patents,

washlngtomnc. U

In testmony whereof I signature 1 5 

